Operations and Equipment
The line was originally double-tracked but is now a single-track operation, with 5,000-foot (1,500 m) passing sidings along its length. Meeting points for trains moving in opposite directions are pre-scheduled and can be located in the employee timetable. Trains also are scheduled to pass on the NEC just prior to Frankford Junction (SHORE interlocking) in order to minimize the number of times Atlantic City trains obstruct through trains on the busy corridor. The Atlantic City Rail Terminal incorporates a fueling facility and trains are fueled in between midday runs. Daily inspections and light maintenance are performed at the Atlantic City Rail Terminal by Herzog Transit Services, while heavy maintenance must take place in NJT's facility in North Jersey. Both cars and locomotives involved with servicing are shuttled up and down Amtrak's Northeast Corridor on weekends for washing and heavy maintenance as needed.
As rebuilt by Amtrak, most of the line was equipped with cab signaling and built to Class 4 track standards allowing speeds up to 80 mph. Around 10 miles (16 km) of tangent track around Absecon was built to Class 5 standards, allowing speeds up to 90 mph. Several years after Amtrak ceased operation on the line, NJT downgraded this segment to Class 4 due to maintenance cost considerations. Until 1995, Amtrak's Section E dispatcher controlled the line from 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, but after the incorporation into the NJT system, the dispatching was shifted to Hoboken Terminal, and later the Meadows Maintenance Complex.
Prior to the 1995 takeover, NJT trains terminating at Lindenwold would actually run to just east of the present day Cherry Hill Station where the nearest passing siding was located in order to clear the line for "Gambler's Express" trains and to allow the crew to change ends. After the terminal was moved to 30th Street Station, NJT commuter trains laid over at the south end of the station platforms to allow the diesel locomotives to exhaust into the open air (as opposed to under the confined space under 30th Street Station).
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